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Should I ship a Zombie Visual Novel?
Visual Novel + Zombies
Of 60 developers who shipped a Zombie Visual Novel in the last 2 years: 3 in 10 made under est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 4 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 20 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 38 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×2.0 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $240k, ×392 the market median. Revenue is down 55% on the market; 38 games are announced against 35 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.3k (exactly $1,256) |
| Top 25% | $17k (exactly $17,405) |
| Top 5% | $246k (exactly $245,986) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 60 |
| Released games | 149 |
| Announced | 38 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
momentum: how a niche's revenue percentiles and developer count moved between two equal, adjacent periods, divided by the market's own move. See method., 12 months: revenue down 55% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Visual Novel
- effort 2 / 10 · high · script, choices and static art
- Zombies
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Visual Novel; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, RPG, Choose Your Own Adventure
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $10.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Anime, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $10.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 6,381 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 30 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 38 games are announced against 35 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Visual Novel with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + City BuilderStrong odds
- + MusicStrong odds
- + TrainsStrong odds
- + Souls-likeFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + RhythmFair
- + JRPGFair
- + Immersive SimFair
- + SwordplayFair
- + GamblingFair
- + DiplomacyFair
Comparable games
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series 2020 · $55M 
The Walking Dead 2012 · $24M 
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier 2016 · $7.0M 
Monster Prom 2018 · $4.4M 
Seed of the Dead: Sweet Home 2021 · $2.7M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series | older | $49.99 | 36,594 96% | 1.1M | $55M (exactly $54,880,022) | Skybound Games |
| | The Walking Dead | older | $14.99 | 53,650 97% | 1.6M | $24M (exactly $24,126,405) | Telltale Games |
| | The Walking Dead: A New Frontier | older | $14.99 | 15,482 83% | 464k | $7.0M (exactly $6,962,255) | Telltale Games |
| | Monster Prom | older | $11.99 | 12,245 93% | 367k | $4.4M (exactly $4,404,526) | Beautiful Glitch |
| | Seed of the Dead: Sweet Home | older | $29.99 | 3,006 83% | 90k | $2.7M (exactly $2,704,498) | TeamKRAMA |
 | DEAD OR SCHOOL | older | $24.99 | 2,607 84% | 78k | $2.0M (exactly $1,954,468) | Studio Nanafushi |
 | LEWDAPOCALYPSE Hentai Evil | older | $4.99 | 5,960 94% | 179k | $892k (exactly $892,212) | KG/AM |
 | SubZero | $9.99 | 2,719 92% | 82k | $815k (exactly $814,884) | Joy Media Limited | |
 | The Necromancer's Tale | $24.99 | 921 91% | 28k | $690k (exactly $690,474) | Psychic Software | |
 | Black & White | older | $14.99 | 612 71% | 18k | $275k (exactly $275,216) | 零创游戏(ZerocreationGame) |
 | Sophie: The Girl From The Zone | $14.99 | 547 87% | 16k | $246k (exactly $245,986) | DavyCroquetteGame | |
 | Apocalypse with Femboy | $12.99 | 439 89% | 13k | $171k (exactly $171,078) | Pout Honey | |
 | 桃色武林 | $9.99 | 504 78% | 15k | $151k (exactly $151,049) | 人型ですカオス | |
 | Survivor Strain - Season 1 | $8.99 | 354 95% | 11k | $95k (exactly $95,474) | Mr. Baker | |
 | Lustful Dead 🔞 | $9.99 | 267 49% | 8.0k | $80k (exactly $80,020) | BanzaiProject | |
 | Survivor's Notes | $6.99 | 352 91% | 11k | $74k (exactly $73,814) | MYSTERY CROWN, YESPLAY | |
 | Punishment NyanNyan R | $8.99 | 163 95% | 4.9k | $44k (exactly $43,961) | ぬるぬる坊主 | |
 | 108 Silly Ways to Die | $10.99 | 115 73% | 3.5k | $38k (exactly $37,916) | SEED Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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